Softball Travels to No. 12 Kentucky
April 01, 2014 | Softball
April 1, 2014
The University of Louisville softball team will travel to Lexington, Ky., to face in-state rival No. 12/12 Kentucky. The game will be televised live on UK/IMG Sports Network with Dick Gabriel calling play-by-play and Jenny Dalton-Hill providing analysis.
Louisville Softball Quick Hits • The Cardinals (20-14) are led offensively by senior second baseman Katie Keller who is batting .382 with 32 runs and 18 RBI. Junior Kelsi Jones has belted out a team-best seven home runs and has 24 RBIs on the season. Fellow junior Brittany Duncan follows closely with five home runs and a team-high 25 RBIs.
• Louisville is hitting .305 as a team with six players boasting batting averages above .300.
• Freshman Maryssa Becker (8-2) has a 2.09 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 80.1 innings while holding opponents to a .203 batting average.
• Becker is the current American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week (March 31).
• Head coach Sandy Pearsall is in her 15th season at UofL. She started the program in 2000 and is the only head coach in UofL Softball history, guiding the program to a 573-288 record.
Cards Against Kentucky
Series Record: Louisville leads 18-14
Last Meeting: April 24, 2013 - Then-No. 19 Kentucky defeated No. 7//8 Louisville 2-1 in Lexington snapping the Cardinals' 15-game winning streak. An infield single by Lauren Cumbess in the bottom of the second lifted the Wildcats to a 2-1 win over the Cards. Alice O'Brien scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch to give UK a 1-0 lead in the sixth. Taner Fowler's eighth homer of the season tied the game in the top of the seventh.
• Louisville took the first game of the home and home series in 2013, winning 5-1 on April 3 at Ulmer Stadium. Kayla Soles had a three-run homer and Alicja Wolney added an RBI triple.
Scouting the Wildcats: Kentucky enters the game with a 28-7 overall record and ranked No. 12 in both the NFCA and USA Softball coaches polls. In their last outing, the Wildcats Defeated No. 21 Auburn 2-1, but fell to the Tigers 6-4 and 7-6 in the first two games of an SEC series.
• Emily Gaines leads the team at the plate with a .411 batting average. Griffin Joiner has belted out eight home runs and has produced 25 RBIs, leading the team in both categories. • Kelsey Nunley (12-3) carries a 1.93 ERA with 90 strikeouts in 108.2 innings while Lauren Cumbess (8-0) has a 1.60 ERA with 62 Ks in 70.0 innings of work.
Up Next
The Cardinals will return to American Athletic Conference play when they travel to Tampa, Fla., to face USF in a three-game series April 5-6
Last Up
Houston 6 - Louisville 5
Down 5-2 in the seventh, the Cardinals rallied behind home runs by Taner Fowler and Whitney Arion in the seventh to tie the score at 5-5, but a bases-loaded hit batter gave the Cougars a 6-5 win in the home half of the inning.
Houston 4 - Louisville 0
In game two, the Cougars scored the only runs of the game in the third inning. The Cardinals had three hits in the game and threatened to score with bases loaded in the top of the seventh.
Houston 8 - Louisville 5
In the final game of the series, the Cards held the lead twice behind home runs by Kayla Soles and Taner Fowler, but a season-high four errors and timely hitting by Houston gave the Cougars a 8-5 win.
Becker Named American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week; Duncan selected to weekly honor roll
Maryssa Becker was named the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week and Brittany Duncan was selected to the weekly honor roll on March 31.
Becker, a freshman from Medford, Ore., picked up two career performances against DePaul last week, earning both wins of the Cardinals' doubleheader against the Blue Demons. She led Louisville to an 8-0 run-rule victory in March 26's first game, and held DePaul scoreless in 7.0 innings of relief in game two's 7-3 win. For the Cardinals' five-game week, Becker fanned 18 in 19.2 innings and upped her record to 8-2. She currently carries a team-best 2.09 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 80.1 innings of work.
• Duncan, a junior from Fairborn, Ohio, had a .400 (6-for-15) week, including a three-hit, four RBI campaign in Louisville's 7-3 win over DePaul. She has a team-high 25 RBIs and is batting .366 on the season.
Becker Tosses First Career No-Hitter
On March 19, freshman Maryssa Becker struck out five en route to her first career no-hitter as the Cards defeated host Western Kentucky 3-0. The no-no was Louisville's first since April 15, 2012 when Tori Collins posted her second consecutive one against Longwood.
Ruckenbrod on Patrol
Senior catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod has thrown out 14 of 28 would-be base stealers. She currently has thrown out 54 in her career, placing her second on the school's all-time list behind current softball director of operations Lisa (McMillan) Pinkston who owns the record with 60.
Additionally, Ruckenbrod has picked off two runners this season. She owns the school record for pickoffs in a game (three), season (11 in 2011) and career (28).
Cards Set School Record for Runs in a Game
Louisville 22- Ohio University 4 (5 innings)
On March 9, the Cardinals defeated Ohio University 22-4 at Ulmer Stadium, setting a program record for runs in a game.The previous record was 18 set against Saint Louis on April 24, 2005. Highlights from the game included:
• Every starter in the lineup had at least one hit as the Cards pounded out a season-high 18 hits
• Senior Taner Fowler and junior Brittany Duncan each tied a school record for runs in a game with four.
• Senior Hannah Kiyohara had a career-high five RBIs to combine with a season-best 3 for 4 performance at the plate.
Power Surge
Junior transfers Kelsi Jones (Missouri) and Brittany Duncan (Valparaiso) have been welcome additions to a team which set a program record for home runs with 63 in 2013. Jones leads the team with seven and Duncan follows closely with five to account for 12 of the Cardinals' 27 round-trippers on the season.
